


Salvage

by MissSunFlower94



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Universe, I wouldn't call it canon compliant but I wouldn't call it not canon compliant, One Shot Collection, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:42:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28013376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissSunFlower94/pseuds/MissSunFlower94
Summary: (v.) rescue of a wrecked or disabled shipsometimes a relationship is a tired b-team of erstwhile world savers and the anxious, energetic engineer that ends up being the best thing to have happened to each of them.[Chapter 2: Cel/Carter, in the Crow's Nest]
Relationships: Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom/Oscar Wilde, Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom/Zolf Smith, Commander James Barnes/Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom, Howard Carter/Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom
Comments: 7
Kudos: 28





	1. Spiritual

**Author's Note:**

> realized my favorite Cel ships are just... the 18 month squad

The aurora really is beautiful, Cel thinks. When it isn’t actively trying to sabotage them anyway. They’re sure plenty of the crew of the Vengeance would not like to sit and stargaze at the source of so much trauma, but if they stopped finding things beautiful just because they’d tried to kill them, they’d have a lot less joy in the world. 

So they sit on the deck on an airship that isn’t in the air but instead perched on top of a megabear in the northern reaches of the world, and watches the aurora stretch across the sky. This is an experience a much younger Cel would have dreamt of and, for the first time, Cel allows themself time to enjoy that thought. 

They hear the sound of footsteps coming across the plank to the deck - too heavy to be Sassraa or Hamid, too light to be Zolf or Azu. The sound isn’t hurried so Cel doesn’t look away from the sky overhead, their smile growing the slightest best when they get the glimpse of Barnes out of the corner of their eye. 

“Evening, Mr. Barnes,” they say, and maybe it’s a little coy. What can they say? They’re having fun. 

“Evening,” he says levelly. Their lips twitch. “Zolf said you’d gone to start ship repairs.”

“I did. Wasn’t a lot I could do once it got dark - I mean, stars out here give a lot of light, as does the aurora, but when you’re below decks not a lot is getting through and I haven’t got the elf genes that get you fancy dark vision.” They glance at him and give a little shrug. “And maybe I got a little distracted.”

Barnes considers this and then settles beside them. Cel can feel his eyes on them before he looks at the sky overhead. “Yeah. I can understand that.”

A short silence stretches between them. Cel debates asking why he was asking where they were, why he’s joined them now, but they think they know the answer. It’s a nice answer, but not one they’re sure they’re ready to hear spoken aloud - for all that they started that dialogue, so to speak. 

Barnes shifts a little so he’s more comfortable beside them. “Are you religious at all?” 

Cel blinks. That’s certainly not a question they were expecting. “Oh, ah- um, not particularly?” They say. “I mean, it’s hard to travel with clerics and paladins and say you don’t- you know- believe in the gods. In the literal, believing they exist sense.”

He chuckles a little and Cel relaxes. “Yeah,” he agrees. “But, like, personally-”

“Yes, exactly, personally I’m not- not very connected to that sort of thing,” they say nodding. “Sometimes I hear Azu talk about Aphrodite and think it might be a nice connection to have. But then-”

“Then you listen to Zolf talk about Poseidon,” Barnes says dryly.

Cel snorts. “Precisely. I suppose there’s lots of god to believe in, and lots of things that aren’t gods but… I don’t know. I guess I believe that all of this,” they wave a hand at the heavens overhead. “Is… what’s the word? Serendipitous? It’s wonderful but I feel like _worshiping_ that… cheapens it somehow.”

They look back at him, unsurprised though a little embarrassed to see him watching them intently. They have to look away first, laughing quietly. “I- well, I mean that’s just the way I feel anyway. What about you?”

“About the same,” he says, and he says it calmly and thoughtfully and Cel knows he’s not just agreeing with them for the sake of it. “There are times I think I’d like it; whatever else can be said it’s a nice, um, sense of purpose, you know? But then, I haven’t seen as much as- as you have obviously, but I’ve seen enough of the world to not… not feel like I could find one part of it that I’d feel more devoted to than another.”

He shoots them a small, shy smile. “Plus, I don’t think I’d be great at it. Told Azu once the most spiritual I’ve ever felt was a night I got drunk and looked at the stars.”

“Yeah?” They say. They glance up again. The number of stars is unfathomable, creating a glittering tapestry above them. They grin back at him. “Sounds like a fun night.” 

Barnes looks away very suddenly. “Yeah, well. I thought it was nice, back then, and thought- um, if you weren’t busy with the ship…” Cel blinks, noticing at last the bottle of rum he had brought with him.

“James Barnes,” they accuse, feeling their face begin to warm. “Did you bring that whole philosophical question up as a way to ask if I wanted to have a drink with you?” 

The abundance of starlight makes his dark blush perfectly visible. “No, I- well, not- that wasn’t the only reason.” Cel raises their eyebrows and he raises a hand. “It wasn’t! I… like hearing your perspective on things. Honestly. You’re… you’re a fascinating person.”

In spite of their own flushed face Cel gives a short, sharp laugh. “That’s certainly one thing I’ve been called!”

They mean it as a joke but Barnes, in his way, takes it earnestly and responds in kind, placing a hand on theirs. “I mean it, Cel.”

Cel’s not been around so long that the touch doesn’t make their heart skip just a bit. “Oh, I- yeah, I- I know. I know you do. I, um, thank you. You’re- you, too. You’re a- yeah.”

They watch a slow grin rise to his face. “Gotta say, it’s nice to be on the other side of this.”

Cel tries to glare but they can feel an answering grin. “Yeah, alright,” they mumble. “Now, are we having that drink or not?”

Barnes gives their hand a squeeze, before releasing it to uncap the bottle of rum. They share it and, sitting together, under the abundance of stars and glowing aurora, Cel’s not sure if what they’re feeling is spiritual.

But it is wonderful.


	2. Observation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A gift for my favorite Cel/Carter evangelist, j_whirl44! Happy birthday Jenn dear!!! <3

Cel doesn’t consider themself a naturally suspicious person as much as a naturally curious one. 

That being said, Carter is almost certainly up to something.

It hadn’t taken long for Cel to learn that Carter is very frequently up to something, from their own observation as well as from stories from Barnes and Zolf - not to mention the shared, long-suffering looks passed between them. As such, they’re comfortable in their hypothesis, even with minimal evidence to suggest it. 

Of course, there is something to be said about the fact that Carter’s typical antics rarely harmed anyone but himself and, now that he’s not in someone else’s body, there’s little danger to anyone else on this second leg of the airship flight. But that’s something Cel knows well - once you’re in a team, you can never hurt  _ just _ yourself, even if that’s all you think you’re doing. 

The crash had been proof of that, and they were a little miffed that Carter might still consider hurting Azu and Barnes by being reckless again.

He hasn’t _done_ anything yet, they remind themself. And not everything he gets up to is dangerous. But judging by the fact that he keeps  _ looking _ at them, Cel has a feeling he doesn’t want their attention - from which they theorize it’s something they’d want to stop him from doing. 

But he hasn’t done anything yet. Looking at them isn’t a crime, and if they hadn’t convinced themself that he’s only doing so because he’s going behind their back, Cel might have found it flattering. 

An entire day passes with no incident, which only makes Cel feel more on edge when they feel his eyes on them the next morning. Whatever this is, it looks like it might be elaborate and they decide it’s best to cut it off at the head rather than wait to get a better handle on what, exactly, they’re preventing.

They wait until he’s in the crows nest, theoretically on a watch, when they offer to take the next shift. From the look Barnes gives them, they figure they aren’t being terribly subtle about continuing Carter-watch, but he doesn’t seem against it either and they climb up before anyone else can comment. 

Unsurprisingly, Carter isn’t watching anything. He has a notebook open, and appears to be… drawing. Or, rather, he was until he catches sight of Cel as they finish their ascent and join him in the basket. 

He squeaks. It’s more adorable than it should be. “C-Cel!” He closes the notebook rapidly, shoving it behind him with both hands. Cel keeps themself from openly frowning in confusion. If drawing is all Carter’s getting up to, what’s there to hide? “I didn’t realize my- it was time to- is it time to switch shifts already? Time flies, huh?”

“Sure does,” Cel says, wickedly cheerful, taking  _ a little _ bit of joy in watching him swallow hard. “Looks like you’ve been keeping yourself busy - though, not a lot to look at up here. Were you drawing clouds?”

“No- I mean, yes. Yes, I was drawing clouds.”

_ Right _ . “Can I see?”

“I, um- they’re not very-” A particularly rough gust of wind made him stumble, and he quickly brought the notebook back in front of him so he could get a better grasp of it, fumbling with it so it falls on the floor of the crow’s nest in the process. Cel crouches before he does, picking it up.

They don’t open it when they stand, instead keeping their eyes on him. “Please?” They ask, this time with genuine curiosity. 

Carter squirms, looking like an embarrassed child caught in a prank - except Carter’s usual caught in a prank look is a wicked playful grin. “I mean, you can,” he says with an attempt at flippantness that Cel recognizes well. “It’s nothing special, is all I’m saying.”

Cel raises their eyebrows and looks down to the notebook. It looks well-used, and Cel wonders why they’ve never noticed it before. They feel a twinge of guilt, thinking that it might be just because it didn’t fit in with their idea of him, and so they’d ignored it.

They open the notebook to a random page and still.

It’s a drawing… of their face. 

They’re not sure what they’re looking at in this drawing but their eyes are bright and animated, their hair swept off their forehead by the wind. They look younger than they’ve felt in a decade, happy in a way they wouldn’t have even been able to clock if they didn’t see it reflected back in their own face.

They glance up at Carter, who looks very much like he’d like the airship to crash again. They offer him a small smile, feeling it quiver a little at the edges. “This is incredible - you’re very- you’re extremely talented,” they say sincerely. He’s a far better artist than they would have expected, and are happy to focus on  _ that _ . Almost absently, they turn the page over.

“Ah- maybe don’t-” He starts weakly, but it’s too late. 

On the next page, it’s their face again. A few of them, actually; sketches of them mid-conversation, laughing, gesturing. There’s a surprisingly detailed sketch of their hands in a corner. Cel feels their cheeks warm. 

Carter clears his throat, utterly red faced. “Listen, you’re, um- you make a good subject. Aesthetically. Is all.”

It’s not the worst compliment they’ve ever been given and what’s more, they’re quite comfortable in their physical attractiveness. It doesn’t stop their heart from squeezing in their chest. “Oh. Um. Thank- thank you. Have you drawn anyone else?” They don’t look through the notebook for any other faces, lest they be confronted with more of their own.

“I can stop if you, um, want,” he says meekly, which answers their question. 

They’re not sure what to say to that, they’re not sure what to do with the feelings bubbling up in their chest. It’s terrifying. It’s familiar. “Is this why you kept staring at me?” They blurt out.

He swallows again. “You noticed that.”

“To be completely fair, I thought you were plotting something dangerous,” they admit with a shy smile.

“Like  _ what _ ?” The genuine confusion in the question makes Cel flush more. 

“Wasn’t sure yet.” 

Carter actually snorts, relaxing a little - more comfortable with their suspicion than they would have expected. “Well, that does explain…” 

“Explains what?” They ask, when he doesn’t continue.

“Um, can- may I?” He gestures for the notebook. Instead of handing it back, Cel swallows their own butterflies and slides close beside him so they can hold the book between them. They think they see him blush darker again and decide it is rather endearing. He clears his throat again and reaches to flip the pages over until it's the most recent sketch.

It’s Cel again, unsurprisingly. It’s Cel,  _ looking at him _ , and they realize that this was from the day before, when they had been watching him, with one noticeable difference.

Cel doesn’t look suspicious. Their brows are drawn together, a little frown line visible at the corner of their mouth, and a sadness in their eyes that they try so hard to bury. Cel looks  _ worried _ \- and they realize that they were. They were worried about  _ him _ , more than about whatever nonsense he might concoct. Losing him in that crash had hurt them as much as it had hurt Barnes and Azu; they had simply refused to think about it until they saw it written on their own features. 

“You,” they begin, the words getting caught in their throat. They let Carter take the notebook back, his eyes keen on their face. He is more observant than they gave him credit for and, without saying anything, he’s  _ seen _ them to a degree they haven’t felt in years. “You make me nervous,” they finish.

That makes Carter grin, his proper, cheerful, shit-eating grin. “Yeah, I know.”

Cel laughs - a bit nervously - and gives him a playful shove. “Ye-yeah, well I’m here- I really am here to switch- to take over. Shifts and all. Go- go make Barnes nervous for a while.”

Carter raises his eyebrows expressively. Before they can rephrase their words he waves a hand. “Yeah, alright. I’ll, um, see you around, Cel.” 

Yeah, they think, feeling a little giddy. They know he will. 

  
  



End file.
